Incantation is one of the most influential death metal bands of all time. This legacy rests on the shoulders of guitarist John McEntee, who is the sole original member. To his credit, McEntee has been playing with the rest of the band long enough to build the kind of chemistry to make this feel like Incantation even in the absence of Craig Pillard, who went on to form Disma.

 

Unholy Deification (Relapse Records) is the band’s thirteenth full-length album. In the past they have covered a wide range of sounds that are now thought of as sub-genres of death metal; death/doom being one of the more notable ones, which this album at times finds them ploughing into the deliberate bpms this genre is known for.

 

Things open in a more straightforward death metal fashion though, not solely relying on rapid double bass. When they throw themselves into more of a blast on the second song it bookends more angular grooves to create a dynamic, before Incantation prove they are still more than capable of going for the throat with the hyper-aggressive “Challice”.

 

While not the band’s darkest album (aside from the lyrical concepts that bass player Chuck Sherwood brings to the fore), the first single “Homunculus” is impressive with its blend of grinding heaviness and an atmosphere set by the melodic riffing, but is far from the album’s most crushing moment – that might be when things slow down on “Convulse” later in the album.

 

Guitarist Luke Shively (from Dismemberment), who has been touring with the band since 2015 is the line-up’s newest full-time member and provides depth to the textured layering of distorted density.

 

Unholy Deification‘s strongest moments come when the band set the stage with ambiance before hitting your ears with blunt force – “Megaron” finds the band falling into more of a Morbid Angel-like sonic space, and things slow down to a more Obituary pace for “Circle” which closes the album – the tempo shifts on this song feel purposeful and hold dynamic impact. The balance of the more extreme death metal thundering with cavernous atmosphere is what has worked best for the band since Onward to Golgotha, though Dirges of Elysium is a more reasonable bar to measure this release than expecting McEntee to return to what they did in 1992.

 

Unholy Deification sees Incantation continuing their wilful intentions not to conform to the expectations of death metal’s status quo. As time marches on, a reasonable question when approaching releases from the legacy bands of more extreme genres is, are they still physically able to pull off playing at the expected speeds and intensities? With the band approaching their mid-fifties they have proved they are capable of executing what their songs call for.

 

They also continue to stay true to who they are. As songwriters, the band continues to find inspiration to draw from. In doing this, there isn’t a feeling they are recycling riffs, or becoming a cover band of themselves and they make headway in keeping their formula fresh. This album delivers more than enough to satisfy.

Buy the album here:

https://incantation666.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-deification

 

8 / 10

WIL CIFER